Venues, such as retail spaces, warehouses, and other bounded areas, sometimes use locationing methods (e.g., ultrasonic locationing) to keep track of certain targets like mobile devices or people, and provide asset tracking/location data. However, due to the inaccuracy of ultrasonic (or other) locationing (also referred to as “microlocationing”) techniques, paths supposedly traversed by tracked devices may be indicated to be in areas where traversal is not possible. As an example, a mobile device being tracked in a retail space may be indicated to have traveled across an area occupied by shelves or other physical structures. While in some instances (e.g., where the intrusion into an occupied space is rather minor), the correct path can be inferred based on the relative proximity of an isle to the tracked path, this may not be possible when the tracked path is indicated as being between two isles or when the tracked path is straying from one isle to another. Additionally, determining that the path of the device is traversing an occupied area, in it of itself, can be challenging for many reasons.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved designs for systems and methods configured to provide locationing of electronic devices and/or other assets in a variety of venues.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.